In this third installment of thoughts about the settings for the Panasonic DMC-FZ28 we'll take a look at the camera's main menu system. The are two sets of Menus -- Recording (REC) and SETUP. The SETUP menus adjust things like what you see in the viewfinder, and what sort of noises the camera makes, and that's what we'll look at in this entry. You access these menus by pressing the Menu/SET button on the back of the camera. Then press the left button, the down button, and then the right button. And now you're in the SETUP menu.

As I previously said, this discussion is just about my own feelings about how the controls should be set. It's not a replacement for the camera's printed manual. In this section I'm going to skip items that I don't feel are important, and I'll skip items that are also on the camera's Quick-Access menus, since you're more likely to access them that way.

And a reminder. If you select a new menu option, remember to press the SET button, which does just what it says.

CLOCK SET - Don't forget to check the camera's clock every once in a while. The time and date info stored with each photograph can come in handy. And don't forget to set it when switching to or from Daylight Saving Time.

BEEP and VOLUME - I set all of these to Muted and VOLUME to 0. I don't like cameras that make noises.

CUST. SET MEM. - You can make sets of custom settings for your favorite shooting situations and quickly switch between them using the Mode dial on the top of the camera. An example is given here.

VIEWFINDER / MONITOR - Use this to change the brightness of viewfinder or LCD screen. If your pictures don't match what you saw, here's where to fix it. Note: use the EVF / LCD button on the back of the camera to choose which one will be affected.

GUIDE LINE - I set REC. INFO to ON and I use the PATTERN that looks like a grid. I've always had trouble holding the camera level. Having vertical and horizontal guidelines in the finder goes a long way staying on the level.

HISTOGRAM - Why use the histogram when you can see a pretty good representation of the final image displayed in the camera's finder? I set this to OFF. Guess I'm not a histogram person. Yes, I know...I know...

HIGHLIGHT - This can be set so that it shows burned-out highlights when reviewing images. The problem areas will be blinking in black and white. I set this to OFF.

MF ASSIST - This determines whether the center of the screen will be magnified while focusing using manual focus. Since I only use autofocus, I left this one at its default.

ECONOMY - These are features that shut down all or part of the camera after some time has elapsed since the last button press. I have POWER SAVE set to 5MIN and AUTO LCD OFF set to OFF. This shuts down the camera after five minutes of non-use.

PLAY ON LCD - This causes the display to switch to the LCD whenever you are reviewing pictures. I set this to OFF.

AUTO REVIEW - This a great feature. Every time you shoot a picture, you get a quick review, so you can check things like someone who's blinking or has an awkward expression. It happens so quickly that it doesn't interfere with normal shooting. To make it work faster, press lightly on the shutter release to stop the review. I set this to 1 SEC, but you can set it longer, or even have it lock on the review until you choose to release it. Eat your heart out, you guys with the fancy DSLRs.

ZOOM RESUME - This feature remembers the position of the zoom lens when you turn off the camera, or when it automatically powers down, and restores that setting next time the camera is powered up. I set this to OFF.

In a future post, we'll take a look at the DMC-FZ28's quick-access menu system.